A train of thoughts and writings on development, technology and the economy focusing on the socio-techno-economic-cultural surge of developing economies to regain and partake in leadership of the world. Written by George Easaw. (This is purely an academic site, no commercial use is allowed. Photography rights lie with the respective organisations). Mention credits as needed.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

To get a special invite to speak for the economist PM of India Dr Manmohan Singh to attend the G20 summit at Washington is an honour, no doubt ..

The G-20 countries are made up of the G-8 (US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada,Italy, Russia) and the G-11 (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey) besides the European Union.

In this time of crisis, the western countries look to China, India and Japan, besides some countries in Europe, to help shore up the economic crisis afflicting the developed western world and to some extent other countries of the world. Everybody is aware of the fact that ever since US started exercising its seignorage of the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Bank and the IMF, the policies of these Institutions which were to help and monitor world economies got skewed to serve the interests of US and other developed nations from Europe. And the world is now fully aware of where those policies have taken the two Institutions which have failed miserably in monitoring, forewarning or controlling the economic crisis which has befallen the world now.

Without democratising these Institutions of international economic governance, US should not expect India and China to play a major role to revive or resurrect the developed economies.. Dr Manmohan Singh would be stressing on the need to democratise these Institutions in the first instance and would be giving lot of economic advice to the world leaders on how to manage their economies.

Dr Manmohan Singh and PM of UK Gordon Brown will be addressing the group on this crisis .. Hope the G20 summit turns out to be useful than a time wasting session ..

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

And I think we should probably adopt the same strategy in India towards Kashmir and Assam. Currently, we see military might suppressing/oppressing everyone including citizens in Kashmir. If you lose the support of the local people, then chances of a peaceful settlement of the issue is as good as gone.

Rajan.

> To: basanthi@egroups.com; cet86@yahoogroups.com> CC: geasaw.blog@blogger.com> From: geasaw@yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:21:54 -0700> Subject: [cet86] Military solution for terrorists and political solution for the Sri Lankan people.. !!> > > Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rakapaksa is firmly committed to relieving Sri Lanka of the menace of cancer, of LTTE, the terrorist group which is now begging with the TN CM Karunanidhi for accomodation.> > Rajapaksa has successfully been carrying out the cleansing operation in Sri Lanka where the terrorist group of LTTE is being driven deeper and deeper into the forests, while more of civilian land is being opened for the people of Sri Lanka which includes the Tamils too from the clutches of LTTE. That LTTE does not represent the Tamils en masse, is evident from the numerous dissensions and acts of silencing of opposition we have seen during the past many years. The all-elusive and omniscient Velupalli Prabhakaran is finding the chase to catch him too hot and tiring these days, running out of space ... His guerilla tactics have got exhausted and his suicide bombers are dwindling down.. His deeds are catching up with him ..> > Being a peace-loving neighbouring country and an emerging international power of reckoning, fighting such secessionism in our own backyard with Kashmiri and Assamese groups, our lookout should be to help Sri Lanka fight secessionism and find a lasting political solution there.> > Rajapaksa's statement that he is ready with a military solution for the terrorists ( ie. decimating the terrorists brutally with an iron fist..) and a political solution for the people cannot but be welcomed with open hands. Very bold stand which no other Sri Lankan politician has taken for a long time and has paid on numerous occasions with their precious lives.. > > Indian open support for Rajapaksa at this critical juncture in their political timeline will give the moral boost for the Sri Lankan army to fight terrorism, in what ever form and shape it appears.. > > Go ahead Rajapaksa, your efforts can bring peace to the region, though not sure of a lasting one ..> > george..> > > > > ------------------------------------> > Homepage : http://groups.yahoo.com/list/cet86 > > To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: cet86-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.comYahoo! Groups Links> > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cet86/> > <*> Your email settings:> Individual Email | Traditional> > <*> To change settings online go to:> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cet86/join> (Yahoo! ID required)> > <*> To change settings via email:> mailto:cet86-digest@yahoogroups.com > mailto:cet86-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com> > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:> cet86-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rakapaksa is firmly committed to relieving Sri Lanka of the menace of cancer, of LTTE, the terrorist group which is now begging with the TN CM Karunanidhi for accomodation.

Rajapaksa has successfully been carrying out the cleansing operation in Sri Lanka where the terrorist group of LTTE is being driven deeper and deeper into the forests, while more of civilian land is being opened for the people of Sri Lanka which includes the Tamils too from the clutches of LTTE. That LTTE does not represent the Tamils en masse, is evident from the numerous dissensions and acts of silencing of opposition we have seen during the past many years. The all-elusive and omniscient Velupalli Prabhakaran is finding the chase to catch him too hot and tiring these days, running out of space ... His guerilla tactics have got exhausted and his suicide bombers are dwindling down.. His deeds are catching up with him ..

Being a peace-loving neighbouring country and an emerging international power of reckoning, fighting such secessionism in our own backyard with Kashmiri and Assamese groups, our lookout should be to help Sri Lanka fight secessionism and find a lasting political solution there.

Rajapaksa's statement that he is ready with a military solution for the terrorists ( ie. decimating the terrorists brutally with an iron fist..) and a political solution for the people cannot but be welcomed with open hands. Very bold stand which no other Sri Lankan politician has taken for a long time and has paid on numerous occasions with their precious lives..

Indian open support for Rajapaksa at this critical juncture in their political timeline will give the moral boost for the Sri Lankan army to fight terrorism, in what ever form and shape it appears..

Go ahead Rajapaksa, your efforts can bring peace to the region, though not sure of a lasting one ..

Terrorism is a menace like cancer spreading in the Indian society. While Islamic terrorists were blamed for the acts of violence in metros, Hindu terorists hav ben nabbed in Malegaon in Maharashtra. Mainstream political parties who are openly fighting for a ban on SIMI, BajrangDal and VHP now need to understand that bans will only make these organisations go underground and metamorphasise into new potent radical organisations, often gaining political and mainstream popular support.

Political parties and leaders irrespective of their alignment, right, left or centre, need to first realise that it is injustice and sidelining happening in the society which causes such organisations to sprout. The Muslms in Gujarat are now a disheartened lot after their sidelining by the Modi BJP govt. They are responsible for the attacks in Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad and so on. Likewise societies elsewhere will start their revolt, leading to irreparable damage to the society.

India and Indians as a whole are upbeat after yesterday's successful launch and putting ion orbit of India's first moon mission, Chandrayaan -1 on PSLV C -11 vehicle - the proven workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organisation. On the day of the launch it was heartening to hear one of the scientists remarking how the moon was peeping from behind the clouds at the SHAR centre preparations for the first Indian lunar mission launch ...

The news also found mention in the evening prime time network news in US and that conveys the importance of the events. The statement by Obama supporting the Indian Moon mission, close on the heels of China having done so, is a further reminder that the world is taking note. Obama did not forget to mention that the H1-B visa issue will be sorted so that US will continue to receive bright Indian talent, to further its plan of borrowed growth and development to sustain its plan for dominance of the world. Many Indians have already fallen for it and will continue to do so. That is part of the game !! It is in fact a two way game ..

The fact that India is planning to land a man on moon by 2018 AD, at least 4 years ahead of China is a very notable point. When the developed world is mired in the economic crisis of its own making, out of personal greed, India is fairly stable and is concentrating itself on more important and strategic issues which can catapult it to greater heights.

The fact that India and China will continue to grow at > 8 % in the coming 5 - 10 years during which period the developed countries will have zero percent growth, trying to recover from the shock and ill effects of the economic crisis, is ample proof of the robustness of the economies of the two countries. After coming out of this recession cycle, India will emerge with a lot of new shining infrastructure, ready to take on the world ...

The moon mission is among the many steps in the direction of attaining self sufficiency in energy, food and protecting the world from the dangers of climate change, the three immediate threats staring at our generation.

As the lullaby reminds us, what more does the moon behold for India in its lotus crescent, if we reach her ??

The arrest of the MDMK leader Vaiko in Chennai yesterday on charges of sedition against the county was a timely step.

This attains more importance especially at a time when LTTE is declared a terrorist organisation and it continues decimation of other Tamil groups and their leaders trying to espouse the Tamil cause. While it was made known publicly by LTTE on several occasions that it does not support democracy among its cadre and among Tamils, it declared itself as the only legitimate representative of Tamils in Sri lanka. Under such circumstances, it becomes difficult for a democracy like India to support it ?

Velupalli Prabhakaran who was responsible for ordering the killings of many of his opponents among the Tamil fraternity in Sri Lanka, is on the run now after Sr Lanka has raised its offensive against the Tamils. It is just a matter of a few months before LTTE becomes history. LTTE is itself to blame for this state of affairs. It is a known opportunist which has violated all rules in the rulebook for fair play and for breaking many a ceasefire with the SriLankan government. By plotting against the Indian government when it ordered the killing of the former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi it had made enemies in the Indian establishment.

India will support any legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people provided it is represented by a different more democratic group and not the LTTE. On the one hand we are fighting separatism in J&K and on the other if we support the LTTE is known for its violent ways and not represent the peace loving Tamils, we are contradicting our own stand. LTTE's violent ways of enrolment, recruitment of children and training makes it a soft target for the human rights groups too.

Unless Tamils get a different group to represent its interests in Sri Lanka , the Tamil cause there is as good as finished and forgotten for ever !

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Students in Bihar have retaliated to the attacks on North Indians in Mumbai by the MNS supporters. Since the North Indian students were not as uncivilized as the MNS supporters, they did not do any bodily harm to the Marathis living in North India. If they had done, things would have been different.

Raj Thackeray is trying out the goonda tactics of his uncle who was once upon a time goonda no. 1 in Mumbai. He estranged the South Indian community in Mumbai many years back and now his nephew is estranging the North Indian community. If they think Mumbai and its culture is their family owned property, they need to be taken to task. Being behind the bars will be the best treatment they can expect from such a civilized society.. They need to realise that Goondaism will not work in a civilized society like India, it may work in Mumbai or parts of Maharashtra.

It is very difficult to understand why such low IQ people are being projected by the people and media. People who do not have any qualities worth its salt with them, just the trait to tickle mass psyche and create problems for peace loving citizens..

It was very shocking to read of the incident of a Malayali family of four committing suicide in Mumbai. It was made more tragic when i came to know that the daughter of the family Ms Suchitra aged 46 was my senior from college of engg trivandrum.

----------------------------------

Children end lives after killing parents

13 Oct 2008, 0037 hrs IST,TNN

MUMBAI: In a shocking incident, four members of a family were found dead in their plush rented apartment at Raheja Estate in Borivli (E) on Sunday. T

he bodies of A K Nair (70), his wife Shyamal (60), son Sudhir (42) and daughter Suchitra (46) were found around 2 pm after neighbours complained of a foul stench. Sudhir and Suchitra were found hanging from the living room fans, while their dead parents were found on the bed inside.

A suicide note was recovered with Sudhir and Suchitra's signatures on it. The note read, "As we have no way of sustaining ourselves and our future, we are taking this drastic step. We have taken the lives of our parents and then our own. We are sorry about what has happened. We request the concerned authorities to dispose of all four bodies."

While the police haven't yet arrived at a conclusion about the motive, financial problems could be a possibility, they said. Till late on Sunday night, none of the family's relatives had approached the police.

"We are waiting for the post-mo rtem report which will give us precise details about the time and cause of death of each person," an official said. "The deaths have occurred at least two days ago, on October 10. The bodies are severely decomposed and external injuries, if any, can't be made out at first glance. While Nair and his wife are suspected to have either been poisoned or strangled, their two children died of hanging. Traces of a white powder have also been found in the house," he added. A case will be registered by the police only after the post-mortem report arrives on Monday.

Residents at Ekta Woods society, where the Nairs had rented flat C-712, said the family did not socialise and kept to themselves. Curious locals thronged the society premises in large numbers as the police were conducting 'panchnamas' and supervising hearses to carry away the bodies. Nair had retired from Bharat Heavy Electicals Ltd (BHEL). His daughter, Suchitra, too had taken voluntary retirement from the same organisation. Both Sudhir and Suchitra were unmarried. The police are now examining their cellphone recorded to find out whom they spoke to last.

"For the past ten years, Sudhir and Suchitra have been residing in the BHEL quarters in the same area. When their parents—who used to stay at their hometown in Kerala—started keeping unwell, the brother-sister duo brought them to Mumbai for better medical treatment. On February 1, the family of four moved to Ekta Woods, a 2-BHK flat with a monthly rent of around Rs 15,000," estate agent Tulsidas Sawant said. The flat is owned by Venumadhav Valaikutti.

According to residents, the Nairs had fitted air-conditioners in their flat. The stench of the decomposed corpses started emanating only by Sunday afternoon. Around 1.35 pm, the security guard informed the chairman and committee members, who in turn summoned Valaikutti. In the presence of committee members, Valaikutty opened the flat only to find Sudhir and Suchitra hanging from the ceiling fans. The Kasturba Marg police in Borivli (E) was then alerted. The bodies have been sent for an autopsy to the Borivli post-mortem centre.

"The Nairs had been staying in Ekta Woods since February and they rented the flat through an estate agent. We had verified their house agreement with the owner. The family hardly spoke to anyone," society chairman Prannath Seth said.

---------------------------

Suchitra had recently taken voluntary retirement from BHEL where she was the Dy General Manager. unmarried, her brother too, they were staying with their parents in this posh rented flat in Borivali.

It is said that 42 credit cards were recovered from their home. Credit took away their lives.. !!

Are we just aiming only at the moon ? Especially when we have umpteen problems back home, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, poor infrastructure and so on..

As a prospective superpower, we need to spread our sight in all directions. The Moon mission is just one exercise where we are exploring and finding for ourselves the lunar terrain, its environment, atmosphere and the abundance of Helium-3, of which a few tonnes can run our nuclear plants for hundreds of years.

Our quests do not end just there, it goes still ahead. Mars.. Besides laying claims for real estate in such faraway places, it also equips us with the special needs humanity has to acquire for long manned missions in outer space. Such inter planetary trajectory missions will help us to understand space and its frontiers better. It will also help us to plan setting colonies on Moon and Mars. Why only Mars, even the outer solar system...

In the event of a major catastrophe hitting mankind on earth, such explorations will help us with good alternatives !!

India is on the verge of a huge explosion, explosion of creativity, innovation and exploration .. and leading us are the following Institutions, ISRO, DAE (Dept of Atomic Energy), CDOT (Centre for Development of Telematics), CDAC ( Advanced Computing..) and other missions ensuring self sufficiency of food and energy for its 110 crores plus population.

Go India go.. With strong democratic credentials, and the freedom of expression, speech and the right to dissent, the developments though slow are firm and steady .. That is the promise to which we are marching today .. with firm and confident steps...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Maarti Ajtisaari, the former Finnish President and the 2008 Nobel peace prize winner, is very right in focussing the attention of his not-for-profit "Crisis Management Initiative" organisation, to resolving the unemployment problems of the world's youth. A very laudable wok for which the whole world needs to be behind him extending full support ..

It is the unemployed youth who are the easy prey to the communalists and seperatists and they easily fall for their teachings and are the next potential terrorists.

Properly direct the youth and you have directed a generation and safe guarded the future of the world ..

The "Unemployment Mitigation Initiative" is the right idea and direction in which our country needs to progress..

The small fry Raj Thackeray is copycatting the strategies of his uncle, Bal Thackeray of goondagiri and high handedness.. He has managed to interpret the Marathi manoos wrongly for his personal selfish ends, trying to edge out a personal political space for him in the Maharashtrian politics.. While it is okay for citizens to have their personal ambitions, the Indian constitution does not guarantee that this right should be by trampling upon the rights of other citizens to peacefully co-exist in a society.

The Maharashtra government has acted firmly now by arresting him. This small fry should be stopped from disturbing social peace any longer..

The Marathis can choose to ignore this goonda or give him prominence and bring him back to mainstream, posing a grave threat to peace and regional harmony .. They can make or break Mumbai .. (not that other cities elsewhere in the country will not rise up to the cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai, the same nature is under threat now..) The local populace and politicians seem to miss the point that it is the contribution of the outsiders that has made Mumbai grow to it's present status, else it would have been something like a Sawantwadi or Ratnagiri !!

By hitting a beautiful 88 against Australia at Mohali, Sachin crossed Brian Lara's record of 11953 runs to cross 12,000 runs in test cricket and the first person in the world to do so.

See his record, The 35-year-old batting maestro is already the

1 world's top-scorer in One-Day International (16,361) and

2. has the most centuries in Test matches (39) and

3. most centuries in One-dayers (42).

What is the next record ??

I am thinking of giving a project to my PGDBM students to find who is the most efficient and best batsman of all time ?? Is it Bradman, Sobers, Barry Richards, Border, Gavaskar , Lara or Sachin ??

They will be using the tool of Data Envelopment analysis (DEA). Inputs are no of one days played, no of test matches played, while outputs are no of times not out, no of 50s, no of 100s, total runs, runs scored on home ground and foreign grounds.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Just after Jet Airways and Kingfisher airlines announced plans of working together, Jet dropped a bomb, it had given sacking letters to about 850 probationers. It will be followed by another bomb, when 1050 more employees will be sent away.

Just this morn, Air India, dropped another bombshell, it was planning to give upto 5 year leave without pay for upto 15,000 emplouees to tide over the present crisis in the aviation industry.

Each of the industry player was losing upto 2-5 crores a day.

These news have already led to fissures in the central cabinet on how and why govt should bail out private players.. ( unlike the US where govt is buying private banks and financial institutions and socialising only losses ( not profits..!) ).. Raj Thackeray and his party MNS have threatened that no Jet airways flight will leave Mumbai.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Valson Thampu (Former Principal of St. Stephen's Delhi and current member of National Integration Council)

When the state that fights terrorism of one kind remains an onlooker in the face of terrorism of another variety, the faith of citizens in the state is at stake.

"You cannot begin to help the world," said Confucius, "unless you begin to call things by their right names."

What has been staged over the last several weeks in Kandhamal and areas adjoining it is, quite simply, terrorism by broad daylight. The fact that a veneer of religious zeal, peppered by calculations of mega electoral profit, is cast over it does not make it any less so. The seed of this national shame lies in the inability or unwillingness of the law-enforcing agencies in Orissa to book the killers of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and his followers. This would have, perhaps, arrested the ongoing carnage. It is regrettable that the swamiji was killed and justice must be done with respect to the killing. But, surely, raping nuns, killing priests, burning down churches and houses and driving thousands of innocent citizens into the forest are no way to bring justice to the late swamiji.

Terrorism must be identified not by who resorts to it, but by the nature and purpose of what is done. Our repugnance to atrocities should not depend on the religious identity of the perpetrators or their victims. It cannot be that avenging individuals or groups of a certain religious identity who resort to burning, killing, rape, destruction and spreading panic are not terrorists; whereas their counterparts in some other faith resorting to blasts and assaults are. All those who mock the rule of law belong together and have to be treated alike. To countenance terrorism of one kind is to lend legitimacy to terrorism of every other kind.

Much worse, it fuels further terrorism by eroding faith in the state and endorsing the dogma that violence alone pays. By abandoning the tribal Christians of Kandhamal to marauders, the state could — and that is a perverse prospect — drive them to the Maoist and naxalite camps. It is a sad day when the state that fights terrorism of one kind remains, for weeks together, an onlooker in the face of terrorism of another variety right under its nose. The faith of citizens in the impartiality and dependability of the state is at stake here. Let us remember what Jawaharlal Nehru said: "Those who want to attack the minorities will have to do so over my dead body." Look where we have reached. For the minorities in particular, the ultimate terror is being abandoned by the state to blood-thirsty mobs.

Communal atrocities such as those in Orissa, Gujarat and elsewhere have to be viewed, first and foremost, from the perspective of national integration and our collective need to create a peaceful and terror-free society. Gandhiji's commitment to the freedom and integrity of India made him give priority to national unity. He knew that truth alone could be the foundation for that unity. So he proclaimed, "Truth is God." Terror is the alternative to truth.

It is laughable that, on the one hand, we carry on with the campaign against terror and, on the other, we continue with our callous indifference to truth. Multitudinous falsehoods are mass-produced, widely distributed and nationally consumed. We can no longer delay asking, what is the sort of society we want to live in? What is the 'security environment' we seek to achieve? It cannot be that we patronise falsehoods of every kind and still expect to live in a sane and safe society. Terrorism, whether it is local, national or international, cannot be contained without a willingness to seek, know and accept the truth of the given issue in context. War on Terror becomes War of Terror when, in pursuing it, truth is nudged aside by falsehood. Remember the run-up to the Iraq imbroglio?

The wilful indifference to truth that underlies the Kandhamal riots pertains not only to the identity of the killers of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Equally, it involves the reluctance to face the truth about conversions in this region. Are conversions by force, fraud or allurement taking place there? If yes, to what extent? Who are the perpetrators of this perfidy? Why are they not dealt with under the law in this regard? What are the factors that fuel large-scale conversions in tribal belts? Nobody cares to find out. Rumours fly fast and furious. Tensions mount. Nothing is done to bring the facts to light. Intriguingly, no one listens to the so-called victims of "conversion by force, fraud or allurement." They are not listened to, I suspect, because they could tell the truth. Some unpleasant truths at that. As an alternative, thousands of people are terrorised, driven out of their homes into forests, denied their citizenship rights, including the right to life. The situation is akin to a nightmare, rather than to life in a sane, civilised society.

Incidentally, there is something funny about the paranoia that Hinduism is endangered by this religion. For long, Islamists were the ultimate threat. Then, for some strange reason, Christians were discovered to be enemy numero uno. Wonder what these worry-pots of Hinduism think of this amazingly resilient faith. Is there no way to convince them that Hinduism is not a religious hencoop which has to be protected against poachers? That it is as enduring as the Himalayas, as secure as the sky, but also, like any other religion, as vulnerable to pollution as the Ganga, if spiritual vigilance is not exercised over what is dumped into it. No religion has been hurt, much less destroyed, by external enemies. Hinduism is in no danger from any other faith. To insinuate otherwise is to 'propagate' a ridiculous view of a faith that has proved its mettle against all odds and challenges.

The Kandhamal carnage that followed the swamiji's murder is a national tragedy. The rest of the nation cannot afford to stand and watch indifferently, because this involves an issue crucial to our belonging together as a nation. The communal turmoil in several BJP-ruled States is not unrelated to the approaching general elections. What this means is that communal terrorism is deemed an alluring strategy of assured electoral returns.

The flip side of it is that a party does not have to deliver good governance so long as it can play the communal card and catch votes in the net of communal polarisation. The assumption at work here is the same that drives terrorism: violence pays. Surely, this is an alarming sign of the sickness of our democratic culture and social cohesion.

The question posed by the communal clouds over Kandhamal is whether or not Article 25 should stand. Regrettably, the Supreme Court of India, in Stanislav vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh (1976) pronounced that "the right to propagate is not the right to convert." In a sense, it is like saying that while one is free to eat, one is not free to digest what one eats. What is proscribed is 'conversion by force, fraud or allurement' which is indeed laudable. But there is a huge problem. Who decides whether a given instance of conversion is by free choice or by force or fraud? On the ground it is lynch mobs, as in Kandhamal, that will decide. What the Supreme Court overlooked was the likely impact of its stand on the right of every citizen to choose and practise a religion of his or her choice.

There is a necessary connection between the right to choose a religion and the right to propagate one's religion. Freedom of choice vis-À-vis religion becomes absurd when the right to practise religion is made birth-based. The word 'propagate' was retained in Article 25 after a prolonged debate in the Constituent Assembly, because it was recognised to be basic to the freedom of religion. Judicial pronouncements as well as legislative whittling down of the ambit of Article 25, that sever the link between the right to propagate one's religion and the right to choose any religion through conversion tend, albeit unwittingly, to legitimise communal pogroms of the Kandhamal variety. If we are committed at all to national integration and religious freedom, we need to review and, if need be, rescind judgments and legislation that undermine the legitimacy of the rights enshrined in Article 25.

The state has a duty to protect the life, liberty, material assets and dignity of its citizens. The loss, destruction and trauma that they suffer due to dereliction of duty on the part of the state must be compensated. The state must realise the costs from the perpetrators of destruction. Those who have lost everything have to be enabled to pick up the threads of their traumatised life and move on. Those who kill people and destroy property must pay for their cruel sport. Why should the taxpayer's money be wasted to finance the vandalism of any group? Presumption of assured immunity to consequences makes cowards trigger-happy.

All citizens have a duty to respect and protect the sanity and unity of our society. No one shall gain from degrading a society into a theatre of anarchy where every man's hand is on his neighbour's throat. Religious and political activities undertaken in the public domain need to pay heed to promoting harmony and mutual trust. At the same time, preserving the health of a society should not be understood as the mere avoidance of offensive acts or words. Justice and equity are basic to the sanity and stability of a society.

Justice, in its proactive sense, involves the creation of conditions conducive to the development and empowerment of every citizen. If crass poverty and deprivation of education and healthcare are what drive conversions in the tribal belts, the just remedy is not communal terrorism and re-conversion by force. It is an initiative to eradicate poverty and to reach out to the likely 'victims' of conversion who live smarting under social, economic and caste degradation.

For the millions who exist suspended between life and death on tenuous strings of destitution, hunger, humiliation and helplessness are the tangible faces of day-to-day terror. Conversion should not be the only survival strategy or escape route for them.

In environmental economics, there is the widely accepted principle that the polluter pays for the cleanup. The Wall Street has polluted the US economy with toxic mortgages. It now has to pay for the cleanups ..

Paulson, Bernanke and the administration believed that they could force Americans into doing whatever they asked. But Americans had been forced before — into signing a blank cheque for the Iraq war. They have learnt a hard lesson and their fingers are badly burnt.

With growing deficit, of about 9 trillion dollars (the Iraq and Afghanistan bill is not yet settled..), the average American has come to understand that the whole American dream is a big bubble, which could burst at the opportune (??) moment. That would be chaos for Americans, not the rest of the world. The rest of the world is taking enough steps or already has, to insulate itself from such events..

Now that it is accountable time for the 435 reps in the US Lower House, it is very unlikely they would be forced to sign the new version of the bail out plan with false promises and assurances. Even if they are bullied into by Bush and co., citing national interests and patriotism etc., the end is in sight..

A good day for democracy all over the world.. The polluter pays and not the society ..